Method, system, and storage medium for providing comprehensive facsimile information within a voicemail system

A storage medium encoded with machine-readable computer program code for providing comprehensive facsimile information within a voicemail system, the storage medium including instructions for causing a computer to implement a method, comprising:

• receiving a facsimile at a voicemail system;
• storing the facsimile in a recipient voice mailbox;
• interpreting elements of a facsimile located in the facsimile, the interpreting performed by optical character recognition software;
• and
• upon receiving a request by a voicemail recipient to access the voice mailbox, and absent any pre-defined user preferences with respect to the handling of the facsimile:
• converting the interpreted elements of the facsimile into audible speech via a text-to-speech engine,
• formatting the converted elements resulting in a voicemail facsimile notification,
• presenting the voicemail facsimile notification of the facsimile and options to a communications device associated with the voicemail recipient, the options including:
• printing the facsimile,
• deleting the facsimile from the recipient voice mailbox,
• storing the facsimile in the recipient voice mailbox for later retrieval, and
• forwarding the facsimile to a networked fax-capable voice mailbox, and
• implementing one of the options selected by the recipient.

A communications network system for providing comprehensive facsimile information within a voicemail system, comprising:

• a server executing a voicemail system that includes at least one voice mailbox;
• a comprehensive voicemail tool executing on the server the comprehensive voicemail tool including optical character recognition software and a text-to-speech engine;
• a link to a facsimile sending device;
• a link to a remote facsimile recipient device;
• and
• a facsimile received at the voicemail system the facsimile transmitted by the facsimile sending device,
• wherein the comprehensive voicemail tool performs:
• storing the facsimile in the at least one voice mailbox,
• interpreting elements of the facsimile using the optical character recognition software, and
• upon receiving a request by a facsimile recipient to access the voice mailbox, and absent any pre-defined user preferences with respect to the handling of the facsimile:
• converting interpreted elements of said the facsimile into audible speech via a text-to-speech engine,
• formatting converted elements resulting in a voicemail facsimile notification,
• presenting the voicemail facsimile notification elements of the facsimile and options to the facsimile recipient, the options including:
• printing the facsimile,
• deleting the facsimile from the recipient voice mailbox,
• storing the facsimile in the recipient voice mailbox for later retrieval, and
• forwarding the facsimile to a networked fax-capable voice mailbox, and
• implementing one of the options selected by the recipient.